


Es Por Amor

by Kirito_Potter



Series: Trans Characters [3]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Coming Out, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Scrapbooks, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25250800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirito_Potter/pseuds/Kirito_Potter
Summary: Coming to the lakehouse, Alex decides, was a very good decision.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Series: Trans Characters [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939453
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84





	Es Por Amor

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I started writing this, another fic was published with a similar premise 😂 but they're different enough, and I just needed to write something short and fluffy to get back in the groove.

Coming to the lakehouse, Alex decides, was a very good decision. He's working on the ribs, half-thinking about Raf, but he finds himself looking up and watching Henry out the window. He's shirtless and swaying under the weight of the alcohol from the Shiner in his hand, yelling unintelligibly as Nora and June splash each other. His face is sort of red, and Alex can't tell if it's from the screaming, the alcohol, or the Texas sun on his pasty white skin. Maybe a mix of all three.

"He's not what I expected," Oscar says to his left, surprising him.

Alex is about to ask if he's still talking about Raf, but when he looks over, Oscar's watching Henry, too. "What d'you mean?"

Oscar shrugs, and a new song starts up, something by Menudo. "You hear 'I'm gonna bring along the Prince of Wales, is that okay?' and you picture this…" He waves the spoon in the air as if he's planning to paint out his thoughts in crema. "Little stick of a man who doesn't even know how to tie his own shoelaces without a servant."

Alex laughs, shaking his head, and glances back out at Henry. He's started gesticulating wildly, apparently having decided someone has broken the rules (which never existed to begin with). "He's… he's a lot stronger than he looks. In a lot of ways."

Oscar nods in the corner of his vision. "That's good. He kind of needs to be to last even an hour around folks like us, huh?" His laugh is deep and rumbling, and Alex can remember being a kid and wondering if his dad had a thunderstorm inside him. He remembers wishing he could take a cloud or two and swallow it down.

"Yeah, I guess so," Alex murmurs. He looks down at his hands, covered in dry rub.

"I think he'll fit right in," Oscar says. At first, Alex doesn't know what to make of that. Then Oscar continues, "He seems a lot better than most of the guys June's tried to introduce me to, at least."

Alex couldn't look up even if he wanted to, frozen in fear. He's never understood how it felt to be a deer in headlights until now.

"I catch on fast, mijo. I bet you thought you were slick, huh?"

He swallows hard and glances over.

Oscar is smiling. "It's okay. Seriously."

Alex tries to speak, but it comes out as a croak, and he has to clear his throat before trying again. "I just… I didn't know if… you'd be alright. I mean, if maybe you just… needed to process."

Oscar raises an eyebrow, and he sets the spoon back in the bowl, turning to lean on the counter. "Alex."

Alex can't meet his eyes.

"Your mom and I have been through this twice already," Oscar says, though not with malice or even annoyance. "You really thought I couldn't handle it again? I have practice now, chiquin."

Alex shrugs a little, feeling heat rising to his cheeks. "I mean, first I told you I didn't like boys. And then I realized I _was_ a boy. And now I've figured out I _do_ like boys after all, which goes against the first time I came out. And, I don't know, it feels like I'm changing my mind about every part of me. Making you have to adjust all the time."

Oscar's hand claps his shoulder, and he flinches. "Mijo," he says, voice soft, like when he'd read them bedtime stories. "It doesn't matter how many times you have to come out to me. Because I will love you just as much every single time."

Alex tries to swallow around the lump in his throat. "I just feel like such a-- a nuisance, like I'm making everything so difficult, and--"

"You're not," Oscar insists. "And even if you were, I don't want you to think that your happiness should ever be traded for making things easier."

Alex makes himself look up. Oscar's eyes are a little wet.

Alex lets his dad hug him, and even though his hands are leaving dry rub on the back of his shirt, Oscar doesn't complain.

When they pull apart, Alex quietly excuses himself out to the lakefront, and Oscar gives him a knowing smile.

"I'll finish up in here," he says with a nod.

Alex quickly washes his hands, then walks out onto the small pier. Henry jumps a little when he finally notices him, and it makes Alex laugh.

Alex presses a kiss to Henry's cheek. He smells like summer.

It's nearly half an hour later when the two of them leave the girls in the water and stumble back into the house, sharing the Shiner with clumsy swigs. Truth be told, Alex isn't sure he's all that buzzed. He just sort of feels the way he always does around Henry, dizzy and light on his feet.

Henry perks up when he gets close enough to smell the ribs, sniffing exaggeratedly at the air. "Delicious," he moans.

Alex snorts and ruffles his hair. "No, you are."

Henry squawks and elbows him in the side, but Alex isn't fazed.

"Alex, there you are!" Oscar says, but he's not in the kitchen, which catches him off-guard. Instead, he's crouching in front of the tall set of drawers pushed against the living room wall.

"What are you doing?" Alex asks, moving closer to get a good look.

Oscar stands and Alex sees the object he's pulled from the bottom drawer-- a large, square book nearly as thick as Oscar's arm.

"Is that--" Alex starts.

Oscar turns the book so Alex can see the front of it. _Kiddos_ is written in sparkly pen. "Henry, do you want to see some baby pictures?"

Alex goes into fight or flight mode. "¡Papá! ¡Deja!"

Oscar smirks and lifts the book over his head, striding towards the couch. "Come and get it, then."

"No fair!" Alex shouts, even as he jumps for it. "You know I'm too short for that!"

"Oh, I know." He sits on the couch and says, "Come sit, Henry," with such a commanding tone that Henry doesn't hesitate before sitting beside him.

Alex makes a snatch for it, but Oscar is faster. Accepting his defeat, Alex sits on Henry's other side, sandwiching him between them.

Oscar grins and shows Henry the cover, plastered with little stickers. "It's a scrapbook. Ellen used to make 'em."

Henry makes a little sound of surprise. "She doesn't seem like the type."

Oscar shrugs, and his smile turns fond. "She's not. But she wanted to try, and when she puts her mind to something, she doesn't give up."

He flips it open, and the first page proudly displays a photograph of Alex as a baby, dressed in a pink onesie. Alex groans and covers his face.

"Oh my god!" Henry squeals. "Alex, is that you? So tiny!"

"Yup," Oscar says. Alex peeks through his fingers at him. "He hated all the baby clothes we put him in, you know. And it only got worse when he started walking. You have no idea how many times his mom would dress him up all cute and he'd run outside to roll around in the mud on purpose." He pauses. "Sort of makes me wonder if, even as a baby, he knew he was wearing the wrong color."

Henry sobers a little at that.

The next few pages are similar, with little labels in his mom's handwriting next to some of the pictures. There's one of June with mashed carrots all over her face that Alex makes a mental note to take a picture of later.

"Look here," Oscar grins, shifting the scrapbook over into Henry's lap. Henry gingerly runs his fingers over the edges of the book as Oscar says, "This one isn't a photo. It's a painting Alex did."

"Really?" Henry breathes. Then, "Er… what is it? Looks a bit like a dog that got squashed by a truck."

"Oh, I remember this!" Alex laughs, reaching out to touch the page. It's raised and buckled in places from the watercolor. "I did it right near the end of fifth grade. It's a horse."

Henry balks. "Why a horse?"

"For the rodeo," Alex says without thinking. It's only when he looks up that he sees Henry's bewildered expression. "It's a Texas thing. Elementary-age kids could submit art of farm animals, and cacti and stuff."

"I thought you said the rodeo was like a… a contest? For animals?"

"Yeah," Alex shrugs. "But it's also like a state fair, and some have concerts, and funnel cake, and roller coasters, and some of them let you submit crappy paintings like this." He taps the painting proudly. "Blue ribbon winner. Isn't that right, dad?"

"I'm surprised the ribbon isn't in here, too," Oscar chuckles.

Henry stops Oscar before he can flip ahead and points at the other page in the spread. "Is this June?" He asks, eyes wide. "This doesn't look like anything she would wear nowadays! I suppose her style has changed a lot since then."

Alex follows the line of his finger.

A picture is glued in of Alex, standing alone in his Sunday best, tightly gripping the straps of the hot pink backpack he's wearing like lifelines. His hair is done in ringlets down past his shoulders. Underneath, it simply says, _First day of sixth grade._

Alex swallows. "Uh… that one's me, actually."

Henry looks up so fast, Alex is surprised it doesn't hurt. His mouth opens, then closes. He looks back down at the photo. Up at Alex. Alex just squirms.

"That's… I knew you were twins, but I sort of assumed you were fraternal," Henry murmurs, studying the picture again.

"Nope," Alex says weakly. "Identical."

When Henry looks up this time, he's biting his lip. "I honestly couldn't tell it was you. I mean, you've changed so much." He smiles then. "And you're a lot more handsome now than you were then."

Alex's heart squeezes in his chest, and too many feelings hit him in a millisecond to name them all.

Alex kisses him. Henry freezes up for a moment, but then he's kissing back, one hand on his cheek. It's such a cliché, but it feels like he's flying.

When Alex pulls back, Henry's eyes go wide, and he swivels around. Alex realizes belatedly that he's looking at Oscar.

Oscar just raises an eyebrow. "Relax, kid. As long as you two leave room for la Virgen Maria tonight--"

"Dad!" Alex yelps.

"All I'm saying is there are enough beds for all of you," Oscar plows on. "Kissing is one thing, but if you two share a bunk, even if I don't see you, she will."

"She?" Henry asks quietly, paling.

"The… Virgin Mary," Alex translates.

Henry looks utterly lost. "Oh. I mean, I know who she is, but I don't often bring her up in conversation."

Alex blinks. "H, we're Catholics."

He flushes. "I was raised Anglican."

"Oh, no," Oscar grunts. "I can handle you being gay, but--"

Henry squeaks in a very unmanly way, waving his hands frantically. "I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean--"

Oscar is already laughing, practically doubled over. "Jesus, mijo, I'm kidding!"

Henry only looks more flustered, but he nods. "Sorry, sir. I-- I promise we'll, ah… leave room for the Virgin Mary?"

The roar of laughter that leaves Oscar is booming, echoing through the room.

(They don't, in fact, leave room for the Virgin Mary that night.)


End file.
